Army developing hearing protection standard for all service branches

Fort Detrick, MD — The U.S. Army is developing a standard to help protect all military service members from hearing problems caused by blast injuries. 

Auditory issues can develop as a result of blast overpressure caused by explosions or firing of weapons.

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, tinnitus and hearing issues affected more than 1.3 million veterans in fiscal year 2020.

Each branch of the U.S. military has its own methods for preventing hearing-related issues.

“If each service is using its own auditory standard, it can be harder to conduct joint training exercises and joint operations,” Raj Gupta, deputy director of the Army’s Blast Injury Research Coordinating Office, said in a press release. “The same injury occurs regardless of the service, so injury prevention should be the same.”

BIRCO is also developing an app to help armed forces personnel minimize exposure to blast overpressure. The tool can “generate visualizations of blast overpressures for specific weapon systems and types of ammunition, which have been incorporated into a portable guide in the form of a pocket-sized flip-book.”

Gupta said the flip-book will be “particularly useful for trainers and observers because they are potentially exposed to blast overpressure every time a service member fires their weapon. For some instructors, that could amount to several blast exposures a day.”